50 years of severe service solutions
In November of 2011, CCI celebrated a major milestone. 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of CCI and over 44 years of DRAG® technology. This technology was an innovative approach to managing destructive fluid flow velocities through control valves, and continues to be a primary competitive advantage for the business today.
DRAG® technology had a humble beginning, not in a major valve company laboratory, but in the mind of one man. Mr. Dick Self, an engineer with a NASA background, focused on valves with high pressure drops and sought the cause of problems that reduced control capability and shortened equipment life. The DRAG® technology was a technological quantum leap for severe service control valves, that has forever changed the practices of end-users, designers, and manufacturers in flow control.
CCI's President, Mike Semens-Flanagan, accepts a Certificate of Recognition award from the Mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita, Anthony Beall, on November 30, 2011.
Mr. Dick Self was honored in 1985 with the Arnold O. Beckman Award, which recognizes individuals for “significant technological contribution to the conception and implementation of a new principle of instrument design, development or application”.
The Control Component business was built on a simple principle of doing the right thing for customers and that remains true today as well.
- True to our employees in providing a globally competitive work environment with growth potential
- True to our community in giving back thru outreach and charity events
- True to our customers in supplying quality products and services that are delivering on the commitments of the founding partners
The men that began CCI were innovators and embodied the spirit of the American business.
America in the 1960’s was a time of entrepreneurship, and Dick Self, along with his co-founder, Jerry Bashe, were a part of that growth. Mr. Self’s background was focused on fluid control devices for the aerospace industry, and included experience with Sperry Gyroscope, Aerojet General, Lockheed Missile, and TRW. It was at TRW in 1958 that Dick met and worked with Jerry Bashe, who was then a prototype machinist and recent engineering graduate. Together these two young men decided that Dick’s engineering experience and Jerry’s manufacturing experience could pave the way for their own business. This venture became reality with $3,000 earned by Dick for a consulting job. At that time, a company known as Airco Cryogenics was located in Buena Park and manufactured high pressure cryogenic pumps and pumping systems. This market was relatively immature and there were numerous problems with much of the equipment utilized, including valves. Seeing the need for the potential in this product line, Dick and Jerry were eager to develop a new type of relief valve – one that would solve the problem of relief valve leakage on repeated shut-off. This valve won excellent acceptance in the marketplace and the company was launched with its first product. The first sale was made to Airco Cryogenics.
In July of 1961, a name was chosen…Control Components…and the move was made to a 1,000 square foot facility in La Habra. By October of 1961 sales were sufficient to hire one full-time employee, Jerry Bashe. By June of 1962 sales were sufficient for Dick Self to quit his full-time job and join the company with pay.
Business continued to prosper for CCI, and in late 1962 Dick invented a unique soft-seated valve that gained immediate acceptance in the aerospace industry. The business volume increased and made it possible for CCI to move into a 5,000 square foot facility in Los Alamitos, and in March of 1963 the employee count rose to ten. Dick’s invention of the DRAG valve in 1968 was the turning point. Due to OSHA’s new noise abatement regulations, meant the Self DRAG became a valve very much in demand. Demand for product and demand for more space again necessitated a move. In August 1972, Irvine became the new home, but by 1987, the need for a bigger facility was apparent. Twenty four years ago, CCI built its headquarters here, before it was even officially a city! CCI was one of the first companies to open it’s doors in the area now known as Rancho Santa Margarita.
Over the last 50 years CCI has grown its customer base and global coverage to where we stand today – 15 offices in 15 countries with nearly 100 thousand valves placed into service in applications ranging from turbine bypass units in solar thermal power plants to desalination systems and LNG liquefaction units.